Petra Gonzales Hernandez Perez

Petra Gonzales was born 18 Feb 1922 in Laredo, TX. She was one of 10 children born to Pedro Gonzales De Leon, and Petra Rivera. The siblings are as follows: Refugio "Cuca" born 1901, Juan born 1904, Juana born 1907, Severa born 1909, Victoria "Vica" born 1912, Pedro "Chacho" born 1914, Pascual born 1918, Elvira born 1920, and Merced born 1923.

Petra and Guillermo Hernandez and had four children; Gloria, Guillermo Jr, Cecilia, and Gilberto. With Martin Perez, she had a son, Baby Boy Perez born 1941, Mathilda born 1948, Martin Jr. born 1950, John born 1957, and Linda born 1961. Baby Boy Perez died shortly after birth, having never received a name.

Petra had two other children, son Antonio Lerma, with Lucas Lerma of Las Jaras, TX. And a stepson, Vincent Trevino Perez, who was a son of Martin Perez Perez.

Petra lived most of her life in the Brookshire area, raising her children and working at various restaurants. She is still living at age 88 years.
























L to R
Refugio, Juana, Severa, Victoria, Elvira, Petra













L to R
Juan, Victoria, Pedro, Severa, Merced, Petra

Cecilia Hernandez

Cecilia was born 20 Nov 1945, in Houston TX, to Petra Gonzales and Guillermo Hernandez, Sr. She died 26 Feb 1947 at age 15 months from meningitis.

There are no known photographs of Cecilia at this time. She is buried at Hollywood Cemetary in Houston. Her grave is unmarked.

Guillermo Hernandez

We will start with Guillermo Hernandez Sr., both because he is the father of my mother, and because his story was very interesting, once we found out what it was.

Guillermo was born 21 Jun 1914, in Mexico. He married Petra Gonzales (date unknown) and they had four children; Gloria born 1942, Guillermo Jr. born 1943, Cecilia born in 1945, and Gilberto born in 1947. Cecilia died in 1946, at age 15 months from meningitis in Harris County.

One story was that Guillermo worked at a construction site, and died from a fall at work at a young age. Another story said he was killed in a fall at a chemical plant, where he worked as a tank cleaner. One also said he died from alcoholism. The real cause of death of Guillermo Sr., though was pulmonary tuberculosis. He died in Houston on 6 Nov 1946 at age 32. We found this out from his death certificate, and from the funeral home log from 1946 at Hollywood Cemetery in Houston, where he is buried.

Of interest is that when Guillermo died, Petra was pregnant with Gilbert. And 3 months later, she lost her daughter, Cecilia. She had it really hard at that time.

Guillermo's parents were Rafael Hernandez, born 1884 in Mexico, and Antonia Estrada, born 1895. She and Rafael had two other children, Quirino and Rafaela (birth unknown at this time). Antonia then married Edwardo Palomares, and had more children with his name. These children are step uncles and aunts to my mother, Gloria Hernandez Rodriguez. The photo of Guillermo above was never seen by my mother until 2010, when her brother Gilbert showed it to her. Neither she nor any of Guillermo's kids had seen photos of their father, he died so young.